the snow lay on the ground · full score—brass octet #8274 parts for brass octet #8275 un...

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T H E C H O I R O F T R I N I T Y W A L L S T R E E TT H E T R I N I T Y Y O U T H C H O R U S

N O V U S N YJ U L I A N W A C H N E R , C O N D U C T O R

The Snow Lay on the Ground

J U L I A N W A C H N E R

F E S T I V E C A R O L S f r o m T R I N I T Y W A L L S T R E E T

ProducerGeoffrey Silver

Trinity TV/New Media StaffLeonard Manchess, Recording EngineerCasey Savage, Assistant EngineerSteve Goldberger, Assistant EngineerKevin Bourassa, Mixing Engineer, Arts Laureate

Trinity Music and Arts StaffJulian Wachner, Director of Music and the ArtsMelissa Attebury, Associate Director of Music and the ArtsAvi Stein, Associate Organist and ChorusmasterMelissa Baker, Artistic Administrator and Instrumental ContractorJoshua Slater, Program Manager for Liturgical Arts and Console AssistantWalker Beard, Stage Manager and Program CoordinatorHarrison Joyce, Music LibrarianAnne Damassa-Graff, Music Education AssistantThomas McCarger, Choral Contractor

Recorded February 3–4 (carols) and April 27 (improvisations), 2016

Order information for each track

The Snow Lay on the GroundKeyboard/Choral Score #8279Full Score #8280Parts #8281

Angels We Have Heard on HighKeyboard/Choral Score #8271Full Score—Brass Quintet #8272Parts for Brass Quintet #8273Full Score—Brass Octet #8274Parts for Brass Octet #8275

Un Flambeau (Bring a Torch)Keyboard/Choral Score #6968Full Score #6966Parts #6967

The First NowellKeyboard/Choral Score #8306Full Score #8307Parts #8308

Niño lindoChoral Score #6955

O Come, O Come, EmmanuelKeyboard/Choral Score #8276Full Score #8277Parts #8278

Joy to the WorldKeyboard/Choral Score #6961Full Score—Brass Quintet #6957Parts for Brass Quintet #6958Full Score—Brass Sextet #6959Parts for Brass Sextet #6960Full Score—Brass Octet #8268Parts for Brass Octet #8269

Silent NightChoral Score #8283

Hark! The Herald Angels SingOrgan/Choral Score #8337Full Score #8338Parts #8339

SopranoElizabeth BatesSarah Brailey

Mellissa HughesMolly Netter

Melanie RussellAmanda Sidebottom

Elena Williamson

AltoMelissa Attebury

Eric BrennerTimothy KeelerClifton Massey

Tim Parsons

TenorAndrew FuchsBrian GieblerTim HodgesScott Mello

Stephen Sands

BassKelvin ChanSteven Eddy

Christopher HebertEnrico Lagasa

Richard LippoldThomas McCargar

Edmund MillyJonathan Woody

The Choir of Trinity Wall Street Trinity Youth Chorus

Melissa Attebury, Director Azaela Danes

Anavey DarlingtonKaite FountianMollie Garcia

Katie KruseVictoria Lee

Jalene LipowitzWilla McAbeeMason MurrayBonnie NygardMarcella RoyElisa Silkula

Dante Vega LamereJosie Zenger

NOVUS NY Musicians

Trumpets Christopher Coletti, Jeff Missal,

and Micah Killion

Horn David Byrd Marrow

Trombones Thomas Hutchinson and

Denson Paul Pollard

Bass Trombone JJ Cooper

Tuba Andrew Baker

PercussionIan Rosenbaum and

Victor Caccese

HarpAshley Jackson

Organ (carols only)James Kennerley

1. The Snow Lay on the Ground

2. Angels We Have Heard on High

3. Un Flambeau (Bring a Torch)

4. The First Nowell

5. Improvisation: Puer nobis

6. Niño Lindo

7. O Come, O Come, Emmanuel

8. Improvisation: Adeste fidelis

9. Joy to the World

10. Improvisation: Divinum mysterium

11. Silent Night

12. Hark! The Herald Angels Sing

13. Improvisation: In dulci jubilo

Elena Williamson

Tim Parsons

Stephen Sands

NOVUS NY Musicians

and Micah Killion

Denson Paul Pollard

Tuba Andrew Baker

Victor Caccese

HarpAshley Jackson

4. The First Nowell

6. Niño Lindo

9. Joy to the World

11. Silent Night

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PROGRAM NOTESThere is a particular gift to arranging carols for Christmas—sounding familiar but exciting,

and nostalgic but unsentimental. Much of Julian Wachner’s career has included addressing this need. In the arrangements presented here, he draws on the principal influences of his child-hood: as a boy chorister at St. Thomas Fifth Avenue, a teenage rocker in the 1980s, and a young chorus master with the Boston Pops for their annual Christmas spectacular.

Many pieces are composed in a short span of time and encapsulate a single moment in their creator’s life. Wachner’s carol arrangements have developed over the years, beginning as improvised hymn accompaniments broadcast live from Marsh Chapel at Boston University. Later, during his tenure as music director of Montreal’s storied Church of St. Andrew and St. Paul, some of these improvisations were codified on a commission from the CBC for its famous annual Sing-In broadcast. Finally, Wachner served as music director of the Washington Cho-rus, where with National Symphony Brass they served as the basis for the annual Christmas Candlelight Concerts at the Kennedy Center.

Some of these carols are widely known throughout the world, some are regional. Some of the settings are over-the-top, some intimate. O Come, O Come, Emmanuel is set to the ethereal harp-and-treble texture which has spoken Christmas loudly ever since Britten first made use of it. There is a nod to the tune’s French origins, too: a compound, parallel-fifth accompaniment in the best Burgundian style. Hark! The Herald Angels Sing pays tribute to Wachner’s boyhood choirmaster, Gerre Hancock, an improviser of famous virtuosity, by pairing the Mendelssohn’s hymn tune with a flamboyant instrumental toccata.

Un Flambeau is French in style, opening with taut, two-bar phrasing from the trombones and sparkling, light organ obbligato. In between carol stanzas, this music returns with increas-ing phrase-length, showing the building excitement of gathered villagers. Angels We Have Heard on High, is utterly sparkling, with a catchy brass staccato intertwined with witty writing for organ, percussion and harp. Clever use of trumpets and percussion together creates the effect of Christmas bells, and finally a soaring descant brings the whole texture together.

The English carol The Snow Lay on the Ground sparkles excitedly, building to a full-throated cry of joy at the birth from all instruments and voices together. Wachner uses such surprising devices as Stravinskian ostinato to build the texture to its final roar.

NOVUS NY NOVUS NY is Trinity Wall Street’s contemporary music orchestra. Hailed by The New Yorker

as “expert and versatile musicians,” NOVUS conquers a variety of new music repertoire meeting “every challenge with an impressive combination of discipline and imagination” (New York Classical Review).

In its first season, NOVUS NY was featured in Trinity’s observance of the 10th anniversary of the events of 9/11. Of the week-long tribute The New York Times wrote, “If there is such a thing as a musical blessing, Trinity Church conferred it on a neighborhood and a city still in need of one.” The orchestra is an integral part of Trinity’s musical outreach, which has included such critically acclaimed series as Twelve in ’12, the Stravinsky Festival, Celebrating Britten, and Lamentatio.

NOVUS NY recorded Elena Ruehr’s Averno for the Avie label and released a 3-CD set of Julian Wachner’s orchestral works on the Musica Omnia label. The orchestra was also featured in Ellen Reid’s Winter’s Child with the Prototype Festival as well as the staged world premier of Du Yun’s new opera Angel’s Bone. NOVUS NY recently made its milestone Carnegie Hall debut alongside The Washington Chorus and The Choir of Trinity Wall Street with Charles Ives’ Symphony No. 4 and Ginastera’s Turbae Passionem ad Gregorionam.

NOVUS NY was featured in the world premiere of Trinity’s Mass Reimaginings commissions as well as the New Works Forum with Opera America. In 2016, NOVUS was an integral part of Revolutionaries, Trinity’s festival celebrating the centenary of Ginastera’s birth.

THE TRINITY YOUTH CHORUS The Trinity Youth Chorus brings together talented youth ages 5-18 from the five boroughs of

New York City. Led by Melissa Attebury, Trinity Wall Street’s Associate Director of Music and the Arts, the choristers provide musical leadership at Sunday services alongside The Choir of Trinity Wall Street and offer concerts throughout the year. The chorus has performed Schubert’s Mass in G, Vival-di’s Gloria, Britten’s Ceremony of Carols, Children’s Crusade, The Golden Vanity, Friday Afternoons, and a fully staged production of Noye’s Fludde. 2015 events have included the Prototype Festival, Ginas-tera’s Turbae ad Passionem Gregorianam at Carnegie Hall, and a performance with Bobby McFerrin.

The chorus was featured in the films Love is Strange and Doubt and performed as part of Fashion Week 2014. The Trinity Youth Chorus sang backup for Josh Groban and The Rolling Stones, and has appeared on CBS’s The Early Show and Public Radio International.

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THE CHOIR OF TRINITY WALL STREET As peerless interpreters of both early and new music, the Grammy-nominated Choir of

Trinity Wall Street has changed the realm of 21st-century vocal music, breaking new ground with its artistry described as “blazing with vigour…a choir from heaven” (The Times, London).

This premiere ensemble, under the direction of Julian Wachner, can be heard in New York City and around the world in performances alternately described as “thrilling” (The New York-er), “musically top-notch” (The Wall Street Journal), and “simply superb” (The New York Times). The choir leads the liturgical music on Sundays at Trinity Church and St. Paul’s Chapel, while performing in Bach at One, Compline by Candlelight, and many other concerts and festivals throughout the year, often with the Trinity Baroque Orchestra and NOVUS NY. Critically acclaimed annual performances of Handel’s Messiah are part of its long and storied tradition, and attending the Choir’s performances at Trinity’s annual Twelfth Night Festival has quickly become the holiday tradition of many New Yorkers as well.

The Choir has toured extensively throughout the United States, making appearances at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Berkeley Early Music Festival, BAM Next Wave Festival, and the Prototype Festival. The Choir is also increasingly in demand internationally, and recent seasons have seen performances at Paris’s Théâtre des Champs-Élysées and London’s Barbican Theatre. The Choir has been featured with the Bang on a Can All-Stars, the New York Philharmonic, and with the Rolling Stones on their 50th anniversary tour.

In addition to their Grammy-nominated Israel in Egypt CD, The Choir of Trinity Wall Street has released several recordings with Naxos, Musica Omnia, VIA Recordings, and Avie Records. Trinity’s long-term commitment to new music is evident in these recordings and in collaborations with living composers such as Du Yun, Paola Prestini, Ralf Gawlick, Elena Ruehr, and Julia Wolfe, whose 2015 Pulitzer Prize–winning and Grammy-nominated work “Anthracite Fields” was recorded with the choir.

Likewise excited and yet full of hushed intimacy is the setting of Niño Lindo, a Venezuelan melody. Cross-rhythms permeate the texture, the basses syncopated against the upper voices and the melody swinging gently between simple and compound meter.

Many composers have been attracted to The First Nowell, a tune of Elgarian breadth easy to make too long. Wachner inverts the usual approach, mixing fanfare and compelling rhythmic accompaniment to aerate Stainer’s original setting. The result is rich, but not overpowering, like the very best of meals.

In both Silent Night and Joy to the World, Wachner makes a reach into the world of Die Meistersinger, enjoying the tight-knit harmony of male chorus. The latter example comes amid a joyous romp through the great Lowell Mason tune—brash, thrilling, with a fleet and virtuosic descant on the second verse. A second fanfare leads to the final verse, with a rousing alternate harmonization.

As we listened to the final mixes for this recording, Dr. Wachner got excited about Christ-mas tunes, and on a breezy night in lower Manhattan, we met in the chancel of Trinity Church where, with the able assistance of Trinity’s production team, we recorded in four quick takes precisely the kind of improvisation he might play as a voluntary. He chose four Latin Christ-mas tunes and went in the moment wherever his whim carried him. You hear them, idiosyn-crasies and all, in unedited first takes, as you would on a Sunday morning. Adeste fidelis is treated with a rip-roaring fanfare; Divinum mysterium is dense with Brahmsian counterpoint and Fifth Avenue flourishes; Puer nobis begins with a broad chorale and expands; and In dulci jubilo is a New York Christmas—busy, syncopated, with touches of Bernstein, Stravinsky, and Gershwin—and delightfully fun.

In the same spirit which moved Baroque composers to scribble down their improvised toc-catas, we offer these as a supplement to the more formal settings. They simultaneously instruct and uplift those of us who love this time of year. Merry Christmas!

—Joshua Anand Slater, April 2016

JULIAN WACHNER, conductorAs Director of Music and the Arts at New York’s historic Trinity

Wall Street, Julian Wachner oversees an annual season of hundreds of events. His duties include conducting Trinity’s flagship weekly series, Bach at One, canvassing the entire choral-orchestral output of J. S. Bach, and leading Compline by candlelight, Trinity’s innova-tive fully-improvised variation on this ancient monastic ritual. In addition, Wachner curates the long-standing and cherished series Concerts at One, presenting an eclectic program of weekly concerts for Lower Manhattan and beyond through its live HD and on-de-mand webcasting. Also at Trinity Wall Street, Wachner serves as the Principal Conductor of NOVUS NY (Trinity’s resident con-temporary music orchestra), The Trinity Baroque Orchestra, and The Choir of Trinity Wall Street.

Wachner’s extensive catalogue of original compositions has been variously described as “jazzy, energetic, and ingenious” (Boston Globe), having “splendor, dignity, outstanding tone combinations, sophisticated chromatic exploration...a rich backdrop, wavering between a glimmer and a tingle…” (La Scena Musicale), being “a compendium of surprises” (Washington Post), and as “bold and atmo-spheric,” having “an imaginative flair for allusive text setting” and noted for “the silken complexities of his harmonies” (The New York Times). The American Record Guide noted that “Wachner is both an unapologetic modernist and an open-minded eclectic—his music has something to say.”

Wachner also enjoys an active guest conducting schedule including performances with the San Francisco Opera, the Philadelphia Orchestra, Glimmerglass Opera, Hawaii Opera Theater, the Mon-treal, Pacific, Calgary, and Pittsburgh Symphonies, The New York Philharmonic, Carnegie Hall Pres-ents, Seraphic Fire, National Sawdust, The National Arts Centre Orchestra, Juilliard Opera Theater, Lincoln Center Festival, Philharmonia Baroque, Hong Kong Philharmonic, Bang on a Can All-Stars, New York City Opera and Apollo’s Fire.

Wachner’s performances inspire uncommon praise. The New York Times pronounced his Trinity Wall Street debut “superbly performed” and noted that the ensemble’s annual Lincoln Center presen-tation of Handel’s Messiah was “led with both fearsome energy and delicate grace…a model of what is musically and emotionally possible with this venerable score.” Of his interpretation of Bach’s St. Matthew Passion, according to the Boston Globe, “there was genius here and no mistaking it.” Anne Midgette, of the Washington Post, declared recent Wagner and Verdi performances “exhilarating,” commenting: “Julian Wachner knows how to draw maximum drama from a score,” and noted that he was “emphatic and theatrical and so at home in opera that he could bring out the requisite sense of drama.”

An award-winning organist and improvisator, Wachner’s solo recital at the Spoleto Festival USA featured an improvised finale that inspired one reviewer to conclude: “This stupefying wizardry was the hit of the recital, and it had to be heard to be believed” (Post and Courier, South Carolina). As a concert pianist, in his recent Rachmaninoff performance at the Kennedy Center, the Washington Post noted “Wachner dazzled with some bravura keyboard work, both in the rhapsodic accompaniments to the songs and…in the highly virtuosic transcription of the Dances.

With multiple Grammy nominations to his credit, Wachner’s recordings are with Arsis, Naxos, Chandos, Atma Classique, Erato, Cantaloupe Music, Dorian, Acis, and Musica Omnia. He is pub-lished exclusively by E. C. Schirmer and is represented worldwide by Opus 3 Artists.

JULIAN WACHNER, conductorAs Director of Music and the Arts at New York’s historic Trinity

Wall Street, Julian Wachner oversees an annual season of hundreds of events. His duties include conducting Trinity’s flagship weekly series, Bach at One, canvassing the entire choral-orchestral output of J. S. Bach, and leading Compline by candlelight, Trinity’s innova-tive fully-improvised variation on this ancient monastic ritual. In addition, Wachner curates the long-standing and cherished series Concerts at One, presenting an eclectic program of weekly concerts for Lower Manhattan and beyond through its live HD and on-de-mand webcasting. Also at Trinity Wall Street, Wachner serves as the Principal Conductor of NOVUS NY (Trinity’s resident con-temporary music orchestra), The Trinity Baroque Orchestra, and The Choir of Trinity Wall Street.

Wachner’s extensive catalogue of original compositions has been variously described as “jazzy, energetic, and ingenious” (Boston Globe), having “splendor, dignity, outstanding tone combinations, sophisticated chromatic exploration...a rich backdrop, wavering between a glimmer and a tingle…” (La Scena Musicale), being “a compendium of surprises” (Washington Post), and as “bold and atmo-spheric,” having “an imaginative flair for allusive text setting” and noted for “the silken complexities of his harmonies” (The New York Times). The American Record Guide noted that “Wachner is both an unapologetic modernist and an open-minded eclectic—his music has something to say.”

Wachner also enjoys an active guest conducting schedule including performances with the San Francisco Opera, the Philadelphia Orchestra, Glimmerglass Opera, Hawaii Opera Theater, the Mon-treal, Pacific, Calgary, and Pittsburgh Symphonies, The New York Philharmonic, Carnegie Hall Pres-ents, Seraphic Fire, National Sawdust, The National Arts Centre Orchestra, Juilliard Opera Theater, Lincoln Center Festival, Philharmonia Baroque, Hong Kong Philharmonic, Bang on a Can All-Stars, New York City Opera and Apollo’s Fire.

Wachner’s performances inspire uncommon praise. The New York Times pronounced his Trinity Wall Street debut “superbly performed” and noted that the ensemble’s annual Lincoln Center presen-tation of Handel’s Messiah was “led with both fearsome energy and delicate grace…a model of what is musically and emotionally possible with this venerable score.” Of his interpretation of Bach’s St. Matthew Passion, according to the Boston Globe, “there was genius here and no mistaking it.” Anne Midgette, of the Washington Post, declared recent Wagner and Verdi performances “exhilarating,” commenting: “Julian Wachner knows how to draw maximum drama from a score,” and noted that he was “emphatic and theatrical and so at home in opera that he could bring out the requisite sense of drama.”

An award-winning organist and improvisator, Wachner’s solo recital at the Spoleto Festival USA featured an improvised finale that inspired one reviewer to conclude: “This stupefying wizardry was the hit of the recital, and it had to be heard to be believed” (Post and Courier, South Carolina). As a concert pianist, in his recent Rachmaninoff performance at the Kennedy Center, the Washington Post noted “Wachner dazzled with some bravura keyboard work, both in the rhapsodic accompaniments to the songs and…in the highly virtuosic transcription of the Dances.

With multiple Grammy nominations to his credit, Wachner’s recordings are with Arsis, Naxos, Chandos, Atma Classique, Erato, Cantaloupe Music, Dorian, Acis, and Musica Omnia. He is pub-lished exclusively by E. C. Schirmer and is represented worldwide by Opus 3 Artists.

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Elena Williamson

Tim Parsons

Stephen Sands

NOVUS NY Musicians

and Micah Killion

Denson Paul Pollard

Tuba Andrew Baker

Victor Caccese

HarpAshley Jackson

4. The First Nowell

6. Niño Lindo

9. Joy to the World

11. Silent Night

Elena Williamson

Tim Parsons

Stephen Sands

NOVUS NY Musicians

and Micah Killion

Denson Paul Pollard

Tuba Andrew Baker

Victor Caccese

HarpAshley Jackson

4. The First Nowell

6. Niño Lindo

9. Joy to the World

11. Silent Night

T H E C H O I R O F T R I N I T Y W A L L S T R E E TT H E T R I N I T Y Y O U T H C H O R U S

N O V U S N YJ U L I A N W A C H N E R , C O N D U C T O R

The Snow Lay on the Ground

J U L I A N W A C H N E R

F E S T I V E C A R O L S f r o m T R I N I T Y W A L L S T R E E T

the snow lay on the ground · full score—brass octet #8274 parts for brass octet #8275 un...

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